SAN ANTONIO – A lawsuit filed to derail VIA Metropolitan Transit's streetcar project instead will delay the sale of bonds meant to fund several other transportation projects, including two downtown transit centers.

But VIA officials Tuesday also expressed confidence that they will prevail and that the case will be thrown out of court.

“We believe it is a frivolous lawsuit, that it is baseless, and we believe we will be able to get it dismissed,” VIA's Chief of Public Engagement Charlie Gonzalez said.

They argue that a plan to issue bonds for two downtown transit centers that will serve buses and streetcars is a sneaky way for VIA to use Advanced Transportation District sales tax revenue for the rail project.

The 2004 election that created the 1/4-cent ATD sales tax said none of the money would go to light rail, which opponents say is just another word for streetcar.

The lawsuit said use of ATD bonds for the transit centers is a “surreptitious attempt to spend ATD revenues on VIA's downtown streetcar start system” which will use the facilities as terminus points.

Alejos put it more plainly.

“It's like saying I'm going to buy a cart, I'm not going to use the money to buy the horse,” Alejos said. “You can't buy the cart without the horse.”

But the lawsuit effectively freezes the sale of the ATD bonds that would help fund those transit centers, Gonzalez said. Because VIA is a public entity, the state attorney general's office must approve the sale of any bonds the agency issues.

But that approval can't happen pending the litigation, Gonzalez said.

“Who does it (the lawsuit) really impact? The bus rider,” he said.

On Oct. 17, the VIA board approved the sale of $32.9 million in ATD-backed bonds. The money will help fund the downtown transit centers, plus construction of a Park & Ride bus terminal off U.S. 281, a bus transit center at Brooks City-Base and improvements to downtown bus amenities.

However, the litigation will have no effect on the streetcar timeline, Gonzalez said.

Gonzalez said VIA officials don't know what to degree the delay of the ATD bond sales will affect any of the transit projects, because “we don't know when this lawsuit will be dismissed.” All of the transit projects also are being funded by multiple revenue sources.

Construction on the West Side Multimodal Transit Center plaza is scheduled to start in several months. But it's partly funded by a $15 million federal grant, so that project probably can move forward, VIA's Chief Development Officer Brian Buchanan said.

VIA trustees were briefed about the lawsuit during executive session at Tuesday's board meeting. VIA President and CEO Jeffrey Arndt has not been formally served with the lawsuit but has seen a copy and has met with VIA attorneys.

Although the streetcar project has been under fire for the past two years, this lawsuit is the first filed against the rail plan.

It was filed a week after state Sen. Donna Campbell, R-New Braunfels, asked Abbott for a ruling on the same issue that's outlined in the lawsuit.

Alejos said he wants a guarantee from VIA that moving forward with the streetcar won't result in cuts to bus service. He doesn't believe most people who currently use the bus ever will get on a streetcar.

“I don't see any benefit of the streetcars for our people,” Alejos said, “for the indigent, the less affluent, who live in our community.”